Germany is supporting the Danish army in expanding its military presence in Greenland. As the Ministry of Defense in Berlin announced, a transport plane with an exploration team of 13 Bundeswehr members took off on Thursday morning towards Greenland’s capital Nuuk. The mission, which was announced for three days, was carried out at the invitation of Denmark. “The aim is to explore the framework for possible military contributions to support Denmark,” said the Ministry of Defense.
Accordingly, it is being examined whether the Bundeswehr can support local maritime surveillance. In addition to Germany, Sweden and Norway also announced that they would send military personnel to the Arctic island. The missions take place in the shadow of Donald Trump’s threats that the USA could annex Greenland. That’s why Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen met on Wednesday and Greenland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Motzfeldt met with the US administration in Washington.
This is not the first mission for the Bundeswehr in Greenland. In September, German military personnel took part in an exercise called “Arctic Light” there – but only with three soldiers. This emerges from a parliamentary question from the left-wing faction, which has been submitted to the taz. Accordingly, the Bundeswehr travels to the far north with great regularity: The federal government has listed a total of 40 exercises in the Arctic bordering states since the beginning of 2024.
“Arctic Light” was the largest NATO operation Greenland had seen in a long time. This exercise also took place without US participation. Under the leadership of the Danish Arctic Command, 550 soldiers from France, Great Britain, Norway and Sweden trained in the operational readiness of their special forces, the use of ground drones and the protection of critical infrastructure on the Arctic island in September. Even then it was seen as a sign from Denmark against Donald Trump’s threats of annexationthat the USA was not involved in the maneuver.
The left criticizes the exercises in the Arctic
Not all Bundeswehr missions in the far north are as small as the participation in “Arctic Light”. From October 13th to 24th, the German Navy said it carried out its “largest shooting project in decades” off the Andøya archipelago in northern Norway. According to a parliamentary question, 1,140 German soldiers were involved in the exercise. According to the Bundeswehr “The performance of the weapon systems under realistic conditions” was tested 300 kilometers above the Arctic Circle – but the exercise was also “proof of Germany’s deterrence capability”.
The left-wing faction’s defense policy spokesman, Ulrich Thoden, criticizes the Bundeswehr’s commitment in the far north. “This is an expression of an adventurous expansion course with which the federal government wants to establish Germany as a military Arctic power in the future,” he told the taz. The federal government is not concerned with national defense, but “with military access to the coveted raw material resources of the Arctic”.
The Foreign Office rejects these allegations. The aim of German Arctic policy is to contribute to security in the region. The aim is to “promote cooperation and support the peaceful use of the Arctic” on the basis of recognized standards. With regard to Greenland, the ministry says: “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and it is up to Denmark and Greenland to decide on all matters that affect both countries.”
There are significant reserves of oil and natural gas in the Arctic. Mining companies from all over the world are particularly interested in the metal deposits that lie in the ground here. The focus is primarily on Greenland: According to the German Association for Foreign Trade GTAI, the world’s two largest known deposits of rare earths, which are needed for the production of modern technical devices, are located in the south of the island.
The federal government had already adopted a new Arctic strategy in autumn 2024 under the leadership of the Foreign Office. Under the title “Germany and the Arctic in the context of the climate crisis and changing times” it is about the changed security policy situation in the region. The focus was on Russian and Chinese activities.
Germany also exports weapons to the region
The guidelines state that the military importance of the Arctic will increase in the foreseeable future. Russia has expanded its military presence and is becoming increasingly aggressive towards NATO’s Arctic allies.
In the paper, the federal government also refers to the Russian Northern Fleet. Russia’s strategic nuclear submarines are intended to guarantee the country’s nuclear second-strike capability. According to the federal government, the Northern Fleet has become more important as an “instrument of Russian foreign and security policy.” Russia’s ability to interfere with freedom of navigation in the North Atlantic in the far north also represents a “strategic challenge.”
Left-wing politician Thoden criticizes the rearmament in the far north. “We advocate exclusively peaceful use of the Arctic and the consistent protection of its unique ecosystem, which is threatened by climate change,” he explained. He therefore also takes a critical view of German arms exports to the region.
According to the answer to the left-wing faction’s small question, Germany delivered armaments worth around three billion euros to states bordering the Arctic in 2025. Norway is in first place with arms imports from Germany worth more than 1.3 billion euros. This is probably due to the fact that Norway is a main buyer of German submarines and these weapon systems are among the most expensive armaments of all. In second place was the USA, which received military equipment worth around 480 million euros from Germany in 2025.
In the parliamentary question, the questioners Thoden and Desiree Becker (also left) refer also on a report from the taz about a trip by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) to Canada, where he promoted the purchase of German submarines. The MPs now wanted to know “on whose orders” Pistorius was traveling. The federal government states that the Defense Minister “politically supported” the application of the German arms manufacturer TKMS to sell submarines to Canada.